Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Two
"Joey..." Ruby managed.
Geoff echoed his girlfriend's words. Joey looked stern enough that when she instructed her colleague to get back to the trawler, he practically ran. Then she turned to Ruby.
"What the hell are you playing at?" she demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ruby mumbled even though she knew full well that she'd been caught out.
"First, you were really awful about Charlie just then," Joey said angrily. "I mean, how dare you say those things about her? She loves you so much. She'd do anything for you. And you talk about her behind her back like she's some kind of irritation."
Ruby looked at the shoes, feeling a little bit ashamed.
"And secondly... sneaking out? What were you thinking?"
"I'm sixteen, Joey. If I want to sleep at my boyfriend's house then I'm entitled."
"Actually, you're not," Joey said. "Because at sixteen years old, even if you think you're a big, grown up girl, you're still a kid. And you listen to what your mother tells you."
Ruby glared at her.
"Like you did what your parents told you to do when you were my age," she sulked.
"My parents were dead by the time I was your age," Joey said. "I had to fend for myself and deal with a brother who treated me like shit."
"Well, then!" Ruby said triumphantly.
"Charlie treats you like the most important person in the world," Joey argued. "Because to her, that's exactly what you are. And you need to grow up ands start appreciating her."
Ruby sighed heavily and apologised. She offered her saddest expression and asked if she was going to tell Charlie what had happened.
"Hey, that's an interesting toy you've got there," Angelo said.
The child didn't speak much English. He didn't speak anything at all really. But through stilted conversation attempts from Charlie, Martha and Angelo, they had established that his name was Bambang. He couldn't tell them where he had come from but Angelo secretly suspected Indonesia. He was certain that he was Clint Eastwood's son. And if Bambang was in town then he was sure his father would be close by. And there was no way that any of this was a coincidence. There was a connection between the little boy and the human trafficking ring. And that meant that there was a link between him and Hugo.
"Can I take a look?"
Bambang looked uncertainly at him and hung onto the bear. Angelo tried to take it from him. He began to protest.
"Leave it alone," Martha snapped, feeling protective of the boy.
"It's evidence," Angelo said.
"And what crime do you think a child has committed?" Martha asked, glaring at him.
Charlie and Bambang watched like it was a tennis match.
"We need to find out where he's come from," Angelo pointed out. "We need to get him back to his family."
"And stealing his teddy bear will help how?" Martha asked.
Angelo ignored her and snatched the bear from Bambang who promptly burst into tears.
"Hey!" Martha protested.
"Angelo!" Charlie said.
"Give me a minute," Angelo instructed them, leaving the room with the bear.
"Do you really need to ask such a ridiculous question?" Joey asked.
Ruby sighed and sank down onto the floor. Joey sat beside her, resting her hands on her knees.
"I thought things were getting better, Ruby," she said.
"They are," Ruby replied. "They were."
"What's changed?"
Ruby gave her a look of contempt.
"I don't know if you noticed but just as things with Charlie started to settle, I got diagnosed with diabetes," she snapped.
"And that's Charlie's fault how?" Joey asked.
"Well, they said it could have been a genetic thing," Ruby said sourly.
She laughed at how ridiculous it sounded.
"What's the real problem here, Rubes?" Joey asked. "Because we can't help you if you don't work with us."
Ruby leant her head against the wall and looked up towards the sky. Aden appeared, looking confused. Joey sent him in Geoff's direction and said she'd catch up with them later. He nodded and left. Joey returned her attention to Ruby as she explained that she was feeling stifled by Charlie and out of control of her own life.
"She's just trying to do her best for you, Ruby," Joey said gently. "This whole thing – the truth about your conception, the diabetes thing – it's all frightening for her too. When she told you the truth, she had to relive the whole event. It broke her. And it was just hellish moment after hellish moment after that. And I swear, when we found you unconscious last week..."
She shook her head with the memories.
"I've never seen Charlie like that before," she said. "She looked as if, had you died, she would actually died too. Right there and then. She loves you so much. She needs you. You might have spent sixteen years loving her as a sister but regardless of what you knew her as, for sixteen years, she's still been your Mum. And she's loved you as such. So rather than bitching about her and disobeying the rules, why don't you just cut her some slack?"
Ruby nodded. It was strange really. When she'd first met Joey, she'd been so shy. She'd never thought that her mother's girlfriend would be so strong and capable. She'd never struck her as a force to be reckoned with. But when it came to protecting the people she loved, she was certainly that.
"I'm sorry," Ruby said.
She looked a little sheepish.
"Are you sure there's no chance you won't tell Charlie what happened?"
"I can't keep secrets from her, Ruby," Joey said. "She's my partner. I love her and I'm not going to lie. I won't share the things you said because I don't think it would serve any purpose. All that would do is upset her. And she doesn't need that. But she does need to know that you stayed the night with Geoff at the weekend. And you cannot do it again without permission."
Charlie excused herself from the interview room and left Martha consoling Bambang about the loss of his toy. She followed Angelo to his desk, demanding to know what he thought he was playing at.
"There is no way that this kid isn't connected to the case," Angelo said, turning the bear over in his hands.
"And how is stealing a child's toy going to help things?" Charlie asked.
"Because... Look!"
He'd torn the back of the bear. Inside it was a folded piece of paper. On that, were written a series of numbers. He waved it triumphantly at her.
"Doesn't prove anything," Charlie told him, totally unmoved.
Angelo took the message and closed the toy up as best he could.
"Charlie, this is progress," he insisted.
She remained unconvinced.
"We can use this kid to get to Hugo," Angelo insisted. "We can bring his world down around him. We can end this thing once and for all."
Next time... Hugo reacts badly to Bambang and Charlie reacts badly to Ruby...
